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Gravebound
A gravebound is a telepath of no small skill, capable of jumping from body to body with the ease an actor shifts between roles. Although the discipline developed as a way to truly know other’s minds, it rapidly developed into a means of “borrowing” another’s body and eventually progressed to more permanent means. Most gravebounds are telepaths, although occasionally other manifesters will spend the time to learn the techniques to become a gravebound. Role: '''With their ability to switch bodies with others, gravebounds can make for difficult opponents to defeat. The biggest threat to a gravebound is an opponent who is immune to mind-affecting powers, so constructs, undead, and similar enemies can be particularly difficult foes. '''Alignment: '''Although the act of stealing a body has an evil connotation, gravebounds can be of any alignment. '''Requirements To qualify to become a gravebound, a character must fulfill the following criteria. * Skills: 'Bluff 6 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 10 ranks. * '''Feats: '''Extend Power, Touch of the Grave, any other metapsionic feat. * '''Psionics: '''Manifester level 10th and the ability to manifest ''clutching the shroud. '''Class Skills: '''The gravebound’s class skills are Autohypnosis, Bluff, Diplomacy, Knowledge (religion), Perform, Sense Motive, and Spellcraft. '''Skill Points at Each Level: '''2 + Int modifier. '''Class Features All of the following are class features of the gravebound. Weapons and Armor Proficiency Gravebounds do not gain proficiency with any additional weapons or armor. Manifesting When indicated, the character gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if he had also gained a level in any one manifesting class he belonged to previously. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus metapsionic or item creation feats, and so on). This essentially means that he adds that level of gravebound to the level of whatever other manifesting class the character has, and then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly. If a character had more than one manifesting class before he became a gravebound, he must decide to which class he adds the level of gravebound for purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level. Graverobber (Sp) At 1st level, a gravebound adds foot in the grave to her powers known. A gravebound’s manifester level for foot in the grave ''is equal to her normal manifester level plus her class level, which may allow her to manifest it even if she could not normally do so. This improves its level-dependent parameters, including the limit on HD it can affect and the amount of power points that can be spent manifesting it. For example, a conduit 11 / gravebound 4 has a manifester level of 14 normally, but manifests this ability as if her manifester level were 18. '''Extended Transfer (Ex)' A gravebound may apply her Extend Power feat to her foot in the grave ''power without spending additional power points. She still needs to expend her psionic focus to use this ability. '''Unliving Mind (Su)' While manifesting foot in the grave, the gravebound armors her mind with the energies of her new body. She gains rudimentary or instinctive knowledge of the subject as normal for foot in the grave, she also learns the subject’s name, cause of death and who raised it from the dead (if it knows), and who its principle associates and enemies are. While she remains in the subject’s body, she also gains knowledge of all the subject’s languages (written and spoken) and gains a +2 competence bonus per class level on saves against mind-affecting effects and any skill checks used to impersonate the subject. The Flesh Remembers (Ex) At 2nd level, a gravebound can connect with a host’s kinaesthetic memories (“muscle memories”) and draw upon learned physical capabilities. While under the influence of foot in the grave, she gains the host body’s weapon and armor proficiencies. Additionally, she may choose to use her host’s ranks in skills keyed to Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution instead of her own. Her training limits how completely she can draw upon her host, though – she cannot emulate a higher rank than her class level + her Intelligence modifier. For instance, Valis (a 4th level gravebound with an Intelligence modifier of +6) could use her host’s ranks in a physical skill such as Climb, but if the host has more than 10 ranks in Climb, she behaves as if the host had only 10 ranks. Rending Transfer (Ex) When manifesting foot in the grave, ''a gravebound of 2nd level or higher may elect to make the process traumatic and disorienting to the unliving host. The subject is staggered for 2 rounds upon arriving in the gravebound’s body, and is dazed for 1d4 rounds thereafter. '''Shroud Mind (Su)' A 3rd level gravebound, when manifesting foot in the grave, appears as if she were one of the undead when subjected to mind-affecting effects. If the gravebound succeeds on a saving throw against a mind-affecting effect while manifesting foot in the grave, the originator of the effect believes that the gravebound is undead (and as such, immune to mind-affecting effects). At 5th level, the gravebound, when manifesting foot in the grave, may emulate the alignment of the subject for purposes of fooling abilities that detect alignment. Rapid Transfer (Ex) At 4th level, a gravebound manifests foot in the grave ''as a standard action instead of a full-round action. '''Seal the Host' At 4th level, a gravebound learns to augment her foot in the grave ''power in a unique fashion, potentially sealing the subject’s higher mind from taking control of her body. She adds the following augment to ''foot in the grave: * If you spend 2 additional power points, the subject’s higher mind may be sealed away when it arrives in your body. If your foot in the grave ''is successful, the subject must make a second Will save or be dazed for as long as it remains in your body, similar to the ''brain lock ''power. This is in addition to your rending transfer ability. '''Mindleap Contingency (Su)' At 5th level, a gravebound unlocks the ability to use a unique metapsionic effect known as a mindleap contingency. Powers that specify a single target and can affect the gravebound’s current form can be made into mindleap contingent powers. A mindleap contingent power, once manifest, lies dormant, undetectable and undispellable, for up to five minutes (after which time it fades harmlessly), or until the gravebound leaves her current body via foot in the grave ''(either to return to her original body or to possess another). Immediately after the switch occurs, the mindleap contingency triggers, and the linked power takes effect on the body she was in when she established the contingency. Any choices to be made about the effect must be made when the power is manifest, not when it triggers. Saving throws made against a mindleap contingent power suffer a -5 penalty due to the sudden shift in bodies. For example, Valis the telepath/gravebound has already manifested ''foot in the grave ''on a subject and is about to shift her mind back to her body. She manifests ''memory modification ''(opting to erase the memory of her time in the body) on her current (host) body as a mindleap contingency, after which she returns her mind to her native body. The subject, upon return to its body, is affected by the ''memory modification ''power, and must make a Will save (at -5) or be forced to forget the experience. Using this ability is akin to using a metapsionic feat – a gravebound must expend her psionic focus when establishing a mindleap contingency, and establishing one increases the power’s power point cost by 4. '''Soul Thief (Ex)' At 5th level, a gravebound is no longer limited to forms of flesh. When manifesting foot in the grave, she gains the following augment. * Augment: '''If you spend an additional 5 power points, you may target an incorporeal undead. If the target has the malevolence ability, or some other similar ability, it gains a +4 bonus on the Will save to resist the switch. '''Death is Only the Beginning (Su) Common folklore suggests that many people see their lives flash before their eyes just before they die. In some ways, this is literal truth for a gravebound, although she tends to see only opportunity. Immediately upon being reduced to -1 hit points or lower, or failing a saving throw against an effect that would kill her, a 6th level gravebound may expend her psionic focus to manifest both feet in the grave ''as an immediate action at the same manifester level she manifests ''foot in the grave. She may only target her killer with this effect (thus, if the killer is out of range, this ability is worthless), and the save DC is reduced by 4 due to the desperate nature of this technique. If successful, her mind immediately switches places with her killer’s and her old body dies. She suffers level loss as normal for losing her previous body after both feet in the grave. Dig Deep A 6th level gravebound adds ''both feet in the grave ''to her powers known at 6th level, even if she is incapable of manifesting 9th level powers. She may apply all her gravebound class features (except seal the host and rapid transfer) to any manifestation of ''both feet in the grave. ''This ability replaces both feet in the grave. Category:Source: Psionics Augmented: Seventh Path